Learn these simple basics before cooking your next meal:

Sweat—The gentle heating of coarsely cut vegetables in a little oil or butter, with frequent stirring and turning to ensure that any emitted liquid will evaporate. Sweating usually results in tender, sometimes translucent, pieces. This differs from sautéing in that sweating is done over a much lower heat, sometimes with salt added to help draw moisture away, and making sure that little or no browning takes place.

Saute—Tossing while cooking is a method of cooking food, that uses a small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat. Ingredients are usually cut into pieces or thinly sliced to facilitate fast cooking. Food that is sautéed is browned while preserving its texture, moisture and flavor. If meat, chicken, or fish is sautéed, the sauté is often finished by deglazing the pan's residue to make a sauce.

Deglazing—is a cooking technique for removing and dissolving browned food residue from a pan to make a pan sauce. When a piece of meat is roasted, pan fried or prepared in a pan with another form of dry heat, a deposit of browned sugars, carbohydrates, and/or proteins forms on the bottom of the pan, along with any rendered fat. The French culinary term for these deposits is sucs. the meat is removed and the majority of the fat is poured off, leaving a small amount with the dried and browned meat juices. The pan is returned to the heat, and a liquid such as vegetable or meat stock, a spirit, some wine, or verjuice is added to act as a solvent. This allows the cook to scrape the dark spots from the bottom of the pan and dissolve them, creating a basic sauce.

Convection Oven—Imparts heat assisted by fans to force air movement. Using a small fan to blow hot air around the cooking chamber, the air moves quickly past the food. Convection ovens can operate at a lower temperature than a standard conventional oven and yet cook food more quickly.

Conventional Oven—Fueled by gas or electricity, it heats the oven from below. Commonly used for baking and roasting. The oven may also be able to heat from the top to provide broiling.